In the Dark
by seasidehearts
Summary: With a powerful hurricane looming over their islands, Sora and Kairi take shelter in Riku's basement for a few days. Somewhat AU. SoKai.


**Disclaimer**: **I don't own Kingdom Hearts; you know the drill.**

OXO

In The Dark

OXO

"Wake up boys, breakfast is ready." I flipped on the lights to the basement as I descended the stairs. I had flipped the lights on earlier when I first woke up and went upstairs but that didn't seem to be enough to make them get up.

Sora and I were staying in Riku's basement due to a hurricane currently hovering over our islands. We were used to hurricanes, but this particular storm was much stronger than usual. Depending on the strength of the storm, we'd always have our hurricane sleepovers at one of our houses. For weak storms, we'd stay at Sora's, moderate ones we'd stay at my house, and strong storms we'd stay at Riku's. The wind was picking up outside as I was helping Riku's mom make breakfast, but overall it was still quiet for the moment.

Riku sat up, his dark green sleeping bag still covering the lower half of his body. "Morning." He rubbed his eyes.

"Morning." I smiled, "Your parents made some pancakes."

As he stood up I noticed he was wearing a white t-shirt and grey basketball shorts. Riku yawned and asked, "Did you help?"

"Of course." I put my hands on my hips in disbelief that he would even ask.

"Okay. Just asking because you know how my mom is with that sort of stuff." He waved me off as he headed upstairs, "Good luck trying to wake Sora up."

I heaved a sigh and answered sarcastically, "Thanks." When I turned back to where Sora was, I saw he was almost completely covered by his blue sleeping bag, only a few spikes of his hair sticking out of the top. I giggled to myself as I sat down next to his sleeping bag. "Sora." I shook where I assumed his shoulders were, "Wake up."

"Mm…" Sora mumbled, squirming and turning away from me.

Squinting my eyes in annoyance, I shook him harder, "Sora!"

His head popped out of the sleeping bag, his eyes half open, "Kairi…?"

"Good morning, sleepy head." I giggled, "Breakfast is ready."

"Great…" He closed his eyes again.

I shook my head, "That means you have to get up. The electricity could go out soon so you wouldn't be able to reheat the food like you normally do."

Sora grimaced before opening his eyes again, "Guess you're right." He sat up, shaking his head to wake himself up, "Can I at least take a nap later?"

"No promises." I answered jokingly with a cross of my arms.

Sora groaned, "Man, I can't win."

"Nope." I smiled, amused.

He stretched out his arms and announced, "I'll go get breakfast now." With that, he stood up to reveal he was only wearing his boxers.

"_Sora!_" I covered my face and turned away, my cheeks burning.

"What?" I heard his confused voice followed by a quiet, "_Oh._" Next I heard Sora throwing around his sleeping bag and rummaging for clothes to throw on. "I'm so sorry, Kairi. I totally forgot that's all I was wearing…"

Assuming it was safe to open my eyes, I turned around and asked quietly, "Were those paopu fruits?"

Sora's face was already extremely red and my comment definitely didn't help. He looked off to his side, "N-no. They're just stars." He moved towards the stairs, "I'm going to go eat now."

"Okay." I answered shyly, letting out a burst of embarrassed laughter once he was out of hearing range. "Oh my god…" I put a hand against my face and felt how hot it was before I walked over to the couch and laid down, pulling the blanket up to my face.

Riku and Sora absolutely refused to ever let me sleep on the floor so I always got the couch in these sleepover situations. I felt bad about it but I would lose the argument with them no matter what since they were both strong enough to pick me up. Even when I got up in the middle of the night to move to the floor, I would always wake up to find I was back on the couch again so I gave up.

Hearing footsteps coming down the stairs, I knew it was Riku. I watched him as he sat down on my feet, forcing me to curl into a ball so I could fit more comfortably. "Did you know he was only wearing boxers?" I asked him suspiciously.

He didn't look at me but I saw his lips curl into a smirk, "Yeah, I did."

"And you didn't warn me, why?" I pulled the blanket down to look at him more clearly, raising an eyebrow.

"It's more fun this way, obviously." He turned his head to look at me, a smug look on his face.

I tossed a pillow at his head, "For _you_."

Riku took the hit before putting the pillow back on my stomach, "You'll thank me someday."

"Yeah, maybe in like twenty years. Embarrassing him isn't going to make him ask me out." I covered my face with the pillow.

"Maybe this time was purely for my entertainment," Riku admitted, "But he has to spit it out eventually. He just needs a shove in the right direction."

"I dunno, Riku. I think you might be shoving him in the wrong direction." I pulled off the pillow and lifted myself up to look at him.

He raised his hands, "Alright, I'll stop messing with him. Just ask if you want my help again."

"I won't." He squinted his eyes in confusion and I laughed, "I'm just kidding, I will." Hearing a creak of the stairs, I knew Sora was heading back downstairs.

"So what are we going to do today?" I heard him as he walked around the back of the couch before I could see him hovering by the edge.

"I dunno. We can play video games or watch movies until the power goes out, if it does." Riku suggested with a shrug.

"You can sit down, you know." I added. I was still laying down but Sora could have easily squeezed in beside me.

He ignored my comment and moved towards the TV, "How about that racing game?"

"Sure." Riku put his feet up on the table in front of us.

I sat up, hoping that making more room on the couch would finally make him sit down, "Okay."

As the intro screen started, he walked back and handed Riku and me our controllers, "Here you go."

"Thanks." I took the controller and watched intently as he sat down next to me.

As Riku set up the game, Sora shifted slightly away from me, his cheeks red again. I smiled to myself for a moment before turning back to the screen to select player two. After we had picked our characters and started the race, it didn't take long for us to get into it; yelling at each other every time we would get hit by an item or knocked off the track.

It didn't take long for Sora to forget about keeping his distance from me, either. His shoulder was pressed against mine and every once in a while he would stick a hand in my face to try and distract me. I had long gotten used to his and Riku's cheating tactics, though, so it didn't do much.

"Not gonna work, Sora." I used my elbow to push his hand away.

He retreated his arm in defeat, mumbling, "I miss the days when you were easily distracted."

I rolled my eyes as I crossed the finish line, just barely beating Sora but still losing to Riku, "Of course you do, because you used to be able to win."

Sora slumped his shoulders, pouting a bit, "Yeah, yeah. Let's go again."

"If you wanna lose again, I guess I won't stop you." Riku smirked as he flipped through the menu to start a new race.

"Not gonna happen." Sora replied confidently. True to his word, Sora quickly snuck into the lead. He smirked, "Guess you'll have to eat your words, Riku." Almost halfway through the final lap, the TV went out followed by the lights a few moments later.

"Guess I won't." Riku replied in a smug tone, but I wasn't amused. We were in complete darkness here in the basement and it didn't seem as if the lights were going to come back on.

Feeling my heart drop into my stomach and my breathing start to increase, I reached out blindly for Sora; finding his chest and his hair. "S-sorry." I retreated my hand from his hair and placed it with the other.

I felt his arm carefully wrap around my shoulder, pulling me closer to him, "It's okay. I'm right here." He spoke quietly to me but then raised his voice, "Riku, can you try to find a flash light? Kairi doesn't do so well in the dark."

Even though we had been best friends for years, Riku was completely oblivious to my fear. To be honest, I was completely embarrassed by it. The only reason Sora knew was because he already got to experience it first-hand.

oxo

I was at his house in middle school helping him study for a test. Most of the time, power will only flicker or there'll be at least some lights from windows in a room to help keep me sane in these types of situations. But this storm had come on so suddenly as we were studying, I figured it would pass over just as quickly as it formed so I didn't worry about it at all.

Sora's den had windows, but they were covered in such thick curtains that it was easy to forget that they were even there. We were going over the review sheet for the test when the power had started flickering. Sora was about to get up and get flashlights but I told him not to worry about it, thinking it was an excuse he was using to escape from studying.

When the power flickered off and stayed off, I quickly regretted that decision.

"Hmm… guess the power's out." I could barely hear what he was saying, I was completely frozen in place. I didn't even realize I was crying until I saw a light beaming on my face and heard his voice ask, "Kairi, what's wrong?"

My hands flew up to my face and quickly wiped away my tears, "Sorry…"

"You don't have to apologize." He walked towards me, handing me a flashlight before sitting down, "Are you scared of the dark?"

I was so embarrassed I felt like crying again, "I know it's stupid…"

Sora shook his head vigorously, "No, it's not. Everyone's scared of something."

"What are _you_ afraid of?" I looked up at him curiously.

He gave a small smile before looking down, "Well, I'm scared of being alone."

I squinted my eyes in disbelief, "Really?"

"Haven't you noticed I avoid coming home if my mom's not here? I always ask to go with you or Riku if we aren't going to the play island." He kept his head down as he spoke.

"I never really thought about it, but I guess you do…" I smiled a bit, my embarrassment beginning to fade. I put my hand on his shoulder and spoke quietly, "Thanks for telling me that. You didn't have to."

"It's okay. I knew it would make you feel better." He smiled at me.

oxo

Being around Sora calmed my nerves a little bit, at least, but I still felt extremely uncomfortable.

"Uh, sure. No problem." I heard Riku shift and get up from the couch.

As Riku dug around, Sora rubbed my back consolingly. Closing my eyes and focusing on the feeling of that almost made me forget where I was and it definitely slowed down my breathing a bit. Next I heard a click followed by, "Here we go."

I assumed Riku had found the flashlight which was confirmed when I found a bright light shining through my eyelids, making me shut them even tighter. "Comfortable?" I heard Riku joke and I felt Sora's hand start to retreat before I reached up and stopped him.

"Yes." I answered as I blinked my eyes open. I still wasn't at one hundred percent, but the light from the flashlight and Sora's warmth definitely made it tolerable.

Riku simply nodded before sitting back down, "How come you've never told me you're afraid of the dark, Kairi?"

I sighed, "It's embarrassing… Sora wouldn't have known either if I hadn't of freaked out at his house a few years ago."

Riku smiled and shrugged, "Still. We're best friends, it's not like I'm gonna judge you for it."

"Thanks, Riku." I reached out to touch his arm, "Sorry for keeping it from you."

He shook his head, "It's okay. But while we're on the subject of keeping things from friends…" Riku nodded his head towards Sora.

"Remember what we talked about earlier…" I frowned at him.

"Hey, I said I wouldn't pick on Sora anymore, I didn't say anything about you." He replied in a smug tone.

"What are you guys even talking about?" Sora leaned forward, confused.

At this point I felt like I'd prefer being back in complete darkness. "Riku, did you really have to do this?" I gave him a tired stare, but my heart was beginning to pound in my chest for a different reason than before.

He leaned into the couch, "Yeah, pretty much. It's been awkward for so long and I just want to get it over with."

Sora retreated his arm from around my shoulder, "I'm really confused."

I sighed, "Sora…"

"What?" He watched me intently.

"I—" I bit my lip.

Sora raised his eyebrows, "You…?"

"I like you." I looked down at my feet, at least what I could see of them from the dim light of the flashlight, "As more than a friend, I mean."

I felt his arms wrap around me in a tight hug before I looked up to see him smiling at me, "I like you too, Kairi."

Riku applauded as I hugged Sora back, "Finally."

Sora kept his arms around me as we all talked like nothing had changed. The lights eventually came back on for a while, but when they went out again, Sora kissed me to distract me and I started to think that maybe being in the dark wasn't so bad after all.


End file.
